Nassau turns sewage system over to private operator

Nassau County Friday turned over its massive sewage system to a private operator -- the largest privatization effort in the county's history -- in a deal that officials say will save taxpayers nearly $12 million in labor costs in 2015.

New Jersey-based United Water will manage Nassau's three major wastewater treatment plants, 53 pumping stations and 3,000 miles of sewers under a 20-year contract with the county.

Plants will be staffed largely by public sector employees whose salary and benefits are paid by United Water.

Deputy County Executive Rob Walker said residents will notice no change in service when they flush their toilets or turn on their faucets. The county will continue to set sewer rates, which Walker said are not expected to increase.

"Most people will never notice the change in operator," Walker said. "Hopefully the only change they see will be for the better."

Environmental watchdogs, who largely support the privatization, say they will be monitoring the transition to ensure United Water improves the quality of the plants and meets state standards dictating the type of waste discharged into the western bays along Nassau's South Shore.

"We will be watching very carefully," said Rob Weltner, president of Operation Splash, a Freeport-based environmental group that works to improve water quality.

Reducing budget deficits

Nassau embarked on the sewer privatization as part of an effort to reduce chronic county budget deficits.

Nassau will pay United Water $57.4 million a year -- adjusted annually for inflation -- to run the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway, the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Wantagh and the Glen Cove Water Pollution Control Plants, which serve a combined 1.16 million residents.

The largest, Bay Park, treats an average of 54 million gallons of sewage per day and serves 550,000 people, about 40 percent of Nassau residents.

The public-private partnership is the largest in Nassau's history, trumping previous deals signed by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano that privatized Nassau's bus system and inmate health care at the county jail.

A Wall Street financial adviser hired by Mangano projected the deal would save taxpayers $233 million over the next two decades, largely by transferring about half of the county's roughly 270 sewer system employees onto United Water's payroll.

While only a handful of Nassau employees took offers to join United Water's staff, 133 Department of Public Works workers will stay at the plants and remain county employees, with their wages and benefits paid by United Water.

More than 120 other former sewage system workers will be reassigned to vacant positions in other departments, Walker said. They include laborer posts at the Department of Social Services, maintenance positions at the Parks Department and spots at the county's new Taxi & Limousine Commission.

So far, only 10 DPW employees, all members of the Civil Service Employees Association, have taken the offer to leave county service and sign on with United Water because of their reluctance to give up county benefits, particularly their state pensions, said CSEA president Jerry Laricchiuta. Another 20 DPW workers are completing employment paperwork with United and will begin working for the company within the next two months, said Gary Albertson, vice president and general manager of United Water Long Island.

"We were hopeful the number would be higher," Albertson said. "But Nassau employees had an easy fallback to stay with the county."

In total, the privatization will save taxpayers $11.8 million in 2015 as the salaries and benefits of at least 143 employees previously paid by the county will now be on United Water's ledger, Walker said.

The savings were built into the county's contract with United Water, requiring the firm to take on a minimum of $10 million in county labor costs annually, Walker said.

Recruiting efforts

In the coming months, United Water will try to recruit more DPW employees with offers of higher salaries, bonuses, incentives, opportunities to relocate and potential advancement within the firm.

The company also will staff the plants with an additional 22 private sector employees it hired in recent months. They include Michael Martino, the former county DPW spokesman, who will perform a similar function for United Water.

United Water, a subsidiary of Paris-based Suez Environment, is the second-largest private water systems operator in the nation. The firm has about 100 sewer contracts nationwide. Including the Nassau contract, the company services about 3 million people in the New York area, including in New Rochelle, West Nyack and Rye.

In Nassau, the company plans to institute significant health and safety improvements for the workforce and neighboring residents, along with more minor changes such as new signage and employee uniforms, Albertson said.

United Water has submitted plans to the county outlining operating improvements, including odor control, noise, dust and maintenance, he said.

Nassau is required to make all capital improvements to the system, following recommendations from United Water. The contract also calls for the company to meet quarterly with residents living near the plants.

Seaford resident Phil Franco, a longtime watchdog of the Cedar Creek plant, said he's "cautiously optimistic about the plan. But the more closely we monitor [United Water], the better they will do."

NASSAU SEWAGE PRIVATIZATION

Nassau County officials say privatization of its sewage system will save taxpayers $11.8 million in labor costs in 2015. New Jersey-based United Water, the system operator, will pay the wages and benefits of public and private sector sewage system employees.

Here's how the staffing breaks down:

Nassau had about 270 Department of Public Works sewage system employees.

A total of 10 DPW workers took offers with United Water and 20 more are expected to join the company's workforce within the next two months.

133 DPW workers will continue to work at the sewage plants. United Water will pay their wages and benefits but the workers will remain county employees.

15 DPW workers opted to take a retirement incentive from the county, although some went back to work for United Water.

The remaining sewage system workers, about 120 employees, were reassigned to vacant positions elsewhere in the county.

United Water also has 30 vacancies in the Nassau system that it plans to fill from the private sector in the coming months.

Sources: Nassau County, United Water

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.